Judge's dinner with woman draws fire at oppression trial

Judge's dinner with woman draws fire at trialProsecutors, defense attorneys differ in their takes on the meeting

BRIAN ROGERS, HOUSTON CHRONICLE

Published
6:30 am CST, Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Prosecutors on Monday said Harris County Court-at-Law Judge Donald Jackson wove a web of lies when explaining why he had dinner with a drunken-driving defendant who had a case pending in his court.

The veteran jurist secretly was recorded talking to authorities investigating him for official oppression of 27-year-old Ariana Venegas, Assistant Harris County District Attorney Paula Hartman told jurors during opening arguments in the misdemeanor trial.

“He told lie after lie after lie after lie,” Hartman said “He's a lawyer. He's well aware of the laws regarding official oppression.”

Jackson's attorneys said Venegas “batted her eyelashes” at police officers, lawyers and, finally, the judge to try to get special treatment after she was accused of drunkenly driving an ex-boyfriend's red Mercedes in February.

“This is a girl who plays the role of the poor, little baby doll, who needs a man to get her out of a mess, and she plays all the angles,” said Lewis Dickson, who is representing Jackson with Dan Cogdell. Last week Cogdell said there was no sexual harassment, and there was no deprivation of Venegas' rights as a defendant.

Dickson said he was ashamed of Jackson's behavior, but that the judge did not do anything criminal. Instead he painted Venegas as a comely siren who manipulated the 60-year-old judge, who has been battling prostate cancer for two years. “He is not a lecherous, old man,” Dickson said. “He was, as they say, ‘ripe for the picking.' ”

Prosecutors said Jackson called Venegas to the bench on Feb. 19, asked for her phone number, then called her to set up a meeting to discuss her case.

After meeting at a coffee shop, Venegas rode with Jackson to a restaurant. Hartman said a waitress is expected to testify that it looked like a “first date gone wrong” with Venegas huddled over, head down and refusing to speak.

According to the indictment, Jackson offered to help the woman find a different lawyer to get her case dismissed “if she would be interested in the defendant and enter into a relationship with him that was more than a one-night stand.”

Jackson's lawyers said Venegas approached him in the hallway outside of his courtroom and asked for his help. He called her that evening and the two went to eat.

“Like a fool, he says he will call her,” Dickson told jurors. As they rode to dinner, Dickson said, Venegas knew she was going to be propositioned.

“She say's she was ‘shocked' and ‘speechless,' but when she got out of the truck, she said, ‘Call me,'” Dickson told jurors as he stood next to a poster board with the words “CALL ME” on it. “She was willing to hear a proposition if it was going to be good for her.”

Once he discerned that she was not interested in him, he dropped it, Dickson said.

With the help of other lawyers, Venegas went to the FBI, which forwarded the investigation to the Harris County District Attorney's Office.